In 1873, Russian doctor J. von Rusitzky coined the term “multiple myeloma” after finding eight different types of bone marrow tumors in a single patient. Nearly 150 years later, using advanced cell sequencing technology and state-of-the-art imaging techniques, researchers at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center have provided a molecular and biological explanation for this finding, discovering that different myeloma clones can be present in a single patient and linking these distinct genetic changes in myeloma cells to the development of myeloma bone disease.

It’s just 60 seconds long, but explains a lifetime of dedication. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s local television commercial, “My Why,” which will air in the Buffalo market during the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 13, shares the very personal motivation that has driven a Roswell Park genetics expert to commit her life to cancer research.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is the first center to treat patients in a newly opened advanced-stage clinical trial utilizing the brain cancer vaccine SurVaxM, offering a new treatment option for patients who are dealing with a rare but deadly form of the disease. The multicenter randomized clinical trial is sponsored by MimiVax LLC, a company spun off from Roswell Park in 2012.

Scientists at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a potential new target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. The study, published today in Cancer Cell, outlines the team’s discovery of a fungus-activated pathway that fuels the production of a molecule present in cancerous cells in the pancreas, opening a possible new treatment avenue for patients with this devastating disease.